NEW DELHI - In a shocking report Monday, a government-sponsored survey in India said one out of two children in the country has suffered sexual abuse.

The report released by Renuka Chowdhury, India's minister for women and child development, also said two out of three children have been physically abused, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The report, based on a survey of 12,447 children in 13 states, said 53.22 percent of them reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse. The highest percentage of such incidents was reported in the states of Delhi which includes the capital New Delhi, southern Andhra Pradesh and eastern Bihar.

In half of such cases across the country, the abusers were known to the child or were in a position of trust and responsibility. Most of the children did not report the matter to any one.

In the physically abused category, parents were the perpetrators in 88.6 per cent of the cases, PTI said.